Archives for May 2009

A lot of people seem to want GM to start building light rail cars. Personally, I’d prefer transit agencies to buy cars that are efficient, reasonably priced, and pleasant to ride in. When it comes to building cars, which they’ve done for a hundred years, GM’s record is a bit spotty on these characteristics, so […]

In this month’s Performance Bicycles catalog there’s a bicycle jersey made of petroleum products with an overweight character symbolizing a non-recyclable petroleum product that’s a key component to internal combustion vehicles, responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions in our region. But he’s touching a plant, so I guess that makes it green. I’m sure the type of person that bicycles in Seattle will pay $85 for that.

Last month, in one of several posts on Southeast Seattle service changes, I mentioned Metro’s attitude towards frequent rider requests for a local circulator: Furthermore, after to talking to some of the Metro planning staff, it’s an article of faith in some quarters there that “circulators don’t work.” My throwaway remark prompted a comment from […]

Beacon Hill Station’s platforms are 49 meters underground, or 160 feet. That’s pretty deep, and it gives some idea of why the station construction has taken so long. I’ve been trying to get into that tunnel for years now, but I’ve got just 7 weeks to go in any case. In 1949 two big transit-related legal […]

50,000 cubic yards of Earth was removed from under Beacon Hill for each of the two Beacon Hill tunnels. A similar amount of Earth was removed for the Beacon Hill station. That subway section is one mile long, so you could imagine how much soil will be removed from underneath Seattle for the 6+ mile subway […]

This is a fairly complete – to my knowledge – map of the passenger rail network in Tokyo and its suburbs. Here is pdf map of made by someone else that includes Tokyo and its suburbs, but not the its suburbs’ suburbs. I’ve been looking for a map like this for a long time, since […]

If it’s seemed darker getting around Seattle, it’s been in part because more streetlights have been out, as I reported in a story back when I worked at the P-I.

Nickels announced today that he’s proposing that $2.1 million authorized in this year’s City Light budget be spent earlier to let crews catch up with the backlog of all the burned out lights on the streets.

According to this post on light rail on Good Magazine’s blog, Manhattan residents first voted to fund the Second Avenue Subway in 1951. They even mention East Link! Seven weeks and two days until Central Link, and seven years and (okay, maybe) two months until University Link…

Dan Savage points to this Atrios post contrasting today’s urban zoning and the buildings that currently exist in urban neighborhoods: One thing I mention frequently but which some seem not to believe is that just about everywhere in this country it would be illegal to build the kind of dense residential urban neighborhoods one associates […]

The demolition of the buildings on Broadway and John (and Broadway and Denny) is now complete. Sound Transit made a goal of recycling many of the building materials from the buildings, which seemed like it would be easy since most of the buildings were relatively old and thus had valuable fixtures and old-growth timbering. In […]

If you were in Obamas position, how would you do that?
The first thing you do is give the automobile makers a $5 billion contract to manufacture transit equipment. This would be far more stimulative, plus youd get something for it. And then you distribute the equipment to transit systems all over the country. Lets see if we cant get them to make a streetcar. I mean, if you can make a bus, why not a streetcar? There are 100 cities in this country that want to do light railthats a market for you. Did I ever tell you the story about Jack Welch and me?

No, please do.
This is after the Cold War. GE was closing some plants. I said, Instead of closing these plants, why not get into the transit business? As governor, Im spending hundreds of millions on transit equipment and Im not buying a stick of it in this country. Ill never forget it. He said, Im a railroad guyhis father was a conductor on the Boston & Maine railroadI love trains, but we go where the money is. As long as this country is spending billions on missiles, well make missiles. Whenand ifthey decide to spend billions on rail, well start making transit again. So here we are. We have an administration that seems to want to do it. We have a Congress thats strongly rail supportive. I think this might well be a time to act. And Im serious about these bus contracts* for Detroit. Why not?

I love Jack Welch’s response there. No illusions about the invisible hand of the market. GE exists to build whatever the government decides it wants.

What is the state of the domestic passenger rail industry? I know there’s United Streetcar (which basically exists to bring Skoda’s European designs in line with “Buy American” laws) and the ill-fated Colorado Railcar . GE is building some hybrid diesels for freight, but that’s about all I can think of.

In 1952, a “Home Rule” King County Charter (the County Charter is the equivalent of the county constitution) was on the ballot. The King County Government was still using the original territorial charter established in 1852, and some leaders wanted a modern charter that reflected the realities of the 1950s: a large county with a […]

Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is serious about competing for the $8 billion in High Speed Rail (HSR) stimulus money. The USDOT is going to complete an initial “application guidance” with instructions on how states can apply for HSR money by June 17th. There’s also a $1 billion per year HSR grant program whose […]

When the 15-year light rail plan in 2008’s ST2 is finished in 2023 (fingers crossed), Sound Transit will have built 53 miles of Light Rail. We’ll have come a long way in less than 30 years. Today Sound Transit also provides express bus service to 53 cities in the central Puget Sound, which doesn’t mean all that […]